Kill Zone
by Undertheink16
Summary: Sam never knew where she belonged, she had always bee par at everything she did, until she finds what she's really good at. But its not quite what she expected, turing her life upside down! especialy when she meets the Joes!
1. Gifted

**My first Fan Fiction! Yay! Constructive Criticism is always welcome, nothing too harsh please! ;) P.S. I made a few changes, I totaly forget where I was going with the story and had to fix some things! lol Enjoy!**

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It was wet and gloomy outside of the front window, Sam watched as cars glided by stirring up the puddles in the street, and waiting anxiously for the car that was coming for her.

She got up from the tan sofa and walked back to small bedroom she called her own. She went to grab the few bags she had packed to place them in front of the door. On the way out of her room she heard her mother call to her from the kitchen. Sam walked slowly to the kitchen knowing exactly what her mother was going to say.

"Honey…" She said then paused for what seemed like a lifetime. "You don't have to go." She repeated for the fifth time in the past fifteen minutes.

"I know, but it's what I want to do. It's where I need to be right now." Sam sighed looking down at her feet, her hands in tight balls at her sides. Her mother was worried stiff about the new job Samantha had, and she couldn't blame her, so was she.

Sam's mother lifted her chin with her hand and smiled her beautiful smile and stared honestly into her eyes. Every time her mother did this, she felt all resistance fall, as if her mother was breaking into her person. "Whatever you decide honey, know that I will always be proud of you and love you until the end." She kissed her daughter on the head.

"I know mom… I know" Sam whispered to her mother raising her eyebrows slightly sarcastically. She knew every word her mother spoke was true, she kept every promise and that made Sam respect her mother.

Sam never knew where she belonged, she had never been good at anything like the other normal kids in her school, whether it is sports, dancing, art, fill in the blank, and she never fit into any clicks at school only the "I don't fit into any clicks" click, but those people rarely talked. Nothing had EVER clicked for Sam until a few days ago.

Her and her father had father daughter days regularly, he wanted to help her find a hobby, something for her to enjoy doing on a regular basis, but nothing ever worked. They tried horse back riding, hiking, park days, and archery. She had a good eye for archery; she hit the mark almost every time after she got the hang of it, Sam had always been a quick learner.

So her father decided about a month ago to take her to a shooting range, so she could try her hand at that, she had a blast, once she got there she felt like she belonged, and soon as the gun was in her hand, she felt the click. Every time she squeezed that trigger, she felt a shrill of excitement well up inside of her, like she had been missing out on life itself, yet she felt like she had been there a thousand times it was a joyous déjà vu she couldn't contain. They began going every Wednesday since.

Until three days ago.

-Flash back-

It was a normal Wednesday afternoon with her father at the range; she was getting better and better each day, so much so that she was ready for the obstacle course. She didn't want to, but her father urged her on, so she did.

The course looked intimidating, it looked like a very, VERY big rundown house, the size of a school and it didn't have a roof from the looks of it.

There were monitors that hung from above so you could see what was going on inside from various camera's placed around the course. There were wooden targets the shape of people to shoot at, almost military style.

There was a man running through before her father did. He was doing a wonderful job, he look professional. It was intimidating.

Her Fathers turn came and he was given a standard issue handgun with four clips to reload with.

The rules were simple you shoot all the targets that looked dangerous, and you don't shoot the ones that don't, you had a set time to run through all of the rooms and secure the building.

Her father took his place in front of the starting line and a loud horn sounded and he ran through slowly, checking around every corner and peeping into every room, and he was holding the gun wrong, defiantly not professional. Sam chuckled under her breath. He finished the course in seventeen minutes even out of twenty.

He came walking back to her after turning in his gun and clips, a group of young men in the corner were laughing.

It was Sam's turn, but she didn't want to go, she was embarrassed, being the only girl there after all. But seeing those men laughing in the corner made her want to step up. She walked briskly to the front of the course and a worker there handed her a holster and some clips. Sam put on the holster and slid the clips gently into the pockets next to the gun. Sam looked back to her father and he smiled a encouraging smile at her, she looked over to the men in the corner again and saw them laughing harder.

She stepped up and waited for a minute until finally she heard the horn blare. Her feet took off before her mind could register, she was running, flying in rooms and shooting at every target that looked dangerous. Not hitting a single wrong target, she kept running and running flinging doors open left and right, she didn't even noticing the burn or painful pull of her muscles, and before she knew it, she had reached the end.

She came to a halt at the finish line, she was breathing heavily and smiling from ear to ear, she couldn't believe she had just done that! She didn't care if she did good or not, she had a blast. Her pulse thudded strongly against her ears she couldn't tell that the people weren't talking anymore they were all fixated on her. She looked around, finally realizing they were all staring at her intently. As if they were waiting for her to do something out of the ordinary, something grand.

She walked slowly back to her father after turning in the gun and clips. He was standing where she left him, he was wide eyed. Even the group of men in the corner were no longer laughing but gawking, their jaws handing slack on their skulls.

"Wow…" Was all her Father could manage to squeeze out of his mouth, especially when so much was going through his head.

"What?" Sam asked shocked and surprised.

While she was in the middle of speaking a man who worked there came running over to them. "Excuse me Ma'am; some one would like to have a word with you." The man said with a beaming smile spreading far and wide across his face. He held out his hand, motioning us to walk with him.

Sam started to worry about what she had done wrong.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that? You did it better than anyone I've ever personally seen on the course! I would give anything to be able to do that! I could see you working with the marines!" The man continued to gush about it through the entire walk to where ever it is they were going.

They went into the main office area of the shooting range, probably the place where they answer phones and book birthday parties. Sam followed close behind her father as they continued on.

They approached a deep brown door and it opened before they reached it. A tall blonde woman in business apparel walked out with a book, she was intently writing in it. She looked up startled when she almost collided with the man who was escorting us.

"Oh, I'm sorry" The blonde said wide eyed, she looked at me next and examined me from head to foot, nodded and walked on, continuing with her business.

The man leading stood by the door and gestured for us to enter; we obeyed and walked slowly into an office it seemed from the set of the room. He closed the door after we entered.

"What's your name young lady?" Asked a balding man said from a desk, he was focused on papers in front of him.

"Samantha Holbrook…" She answered, her voice shaking a little, her mouth pressed into a firm straight line.

"Nice to meet you Samantha, My name is Aaron Marks" The man said then looked up from his paper work. "Why, you don't look older than eighteen." Marks said in an exhale of breath, his voice dropping to a whisper as he looked her over.

"Seventeen actually, but close." Sam replied also whispering.

"My goodness… and how on earth did you do so well on the course?" He exclaimed, his voice growing.

"I don't know, my body just did it. I didn't even have time to think, my legs just took off without me." Samantha said, her confusion growing.

"My goodness, it just happened naturally?" He asked, pursing his lips. "You know, Samantha you have a gift that people spend years trying to perfect, its when you can see the kill zone on a target and hit it dead on without a thought. It's rather spectacular!" Marks smiled widely at her. He was a very handsome older man, he had tanned skin and a wide smile with bright blue eyes surrounded by wrinkles, and topped off with bushy grey black eyebrows. His yaw line was still strong and he had thin peachy lips. They parted and his lips began to move but Samantha was too deep in his facial features that she missed Mr. Marks comment.

"Samantha?" He asked snapping her out of her daze. "How long have you been shooting? And how long have you been attending the course?" He said again, picking up one of the papers he was studying and handed it to Sam's father.

"A month or so? But today was my first time on the course." She answered, scrambling around in her brain trying to find an exact date.

"You ran that course like a pro. I can't even run that course like you did! You had such vigor, and without even blinking once, you checked every room, hit every target, and got a perfect score! Something that a person can indeed do if they practiced for years, you never ran the course once, and you did it not only perfectly but you beat the best time!" Marks leaned forward in his chair like he was telling a story and getting to his favorite part. "The best time was 7 minutes, eighteen seconds. You ran the average 20 minute course in 5 minutes flat! That is something my dear, quite something." He sighed and shook his head. "Quite a gift you have, something every person in the military works years upon years to obtain, and you…" He paused leaning back in his chair. "You have this gift naturally." He sighed, impressed.

"Really?" Samantha said shocked. She smiled widely at the thought.

"To be able to execute such a course with that kind of speed and stability, takes years at least, and that's only learning how to kill every target in one shot! The speed you had takes double the time! I cannot stress enough how gifted you are!" He was clearly excited.

But at the word "kill" the smile slid off of Samantha's face. Of all the things to be naturally good at, killing would never be on her list of things she ever expected.

Marks saw the displeased look on Sam's face and smiled. "Don't look so sad young lady, you have a gift, and I want to encourage you to use it!" He smiled even wider. "I took the liberty to recommend you to a highly classified secret military Unit. They take gifted people such as you and train them to be better, to use their skills and unique traits to help mankind. I actually used to work for them myself, until I retired and now… Why I cant even walk to the market without back pain!" He laughed a hearty laugh and then He folded his hands in a business like manner and looked deep into Sam's forest green eyes, his blue eyes smoldering hers. "I want you to consider it, please." The man said now very serious. "Maybe you could teach the branch a thing or two yourself!" he winked at her.

"Hang on." Sam's father interjected "I'm not so sure how I feel about my baby girl using her 'gift' as you called it for this 'special unit'" His face was a mask covering his inner emotions. "What about schooling? She has her whole life ahead of her!" He pleaded.

"Dad…" Sam spoke up. She couldn't understand why, but she felt a tugging on her mind, something was making her want to at least try this "special program" maybe she might finally find somewhere she fits in, some place she belonged. "I'm interested Dad, I'd like to try…" She looked down at her shoes, they were dusty and worn.

"I'm not sure how I feel about sending my only daughter off to some place I don't know the name of! Let alone to do something that involves the military! Wouldn't she be in high risk?" Her father asked Marks with a stern look on his face. Sam rolled her eyes, he always did this.

"Sir, I'm not going to lie to you, no matter what branch of military you join they teach you to kill before you get killed, so it's not just this specific branch." He still had his hands folded in front of him, still business like.

"Dad, I want to try!" She blurted out without thinking. "I can train and practice! But if it gets too much, I'll stop! Please Dad, I want to do this! I NEED to try!" She was begging now. She really wanted this.

"And what about School?!" Her father interjected.

"I'll… home school!" She shot back.

"That would be posible. Although you are required to do at least three years of military training before you join." Marks said.

Her father pinched his thumb and forefinger to his nose bone then released it "Really? So she would at least get educated. Three years, my goodness, that would be a long time." Her father's face had lightened up a tad, he didn't look so stressed anymore, because in his opinion, he wanted her to be happy, but he also didn't want her to be neglecting her education. He wanted her to do what she enjoyed and she seemed to enjoy shooting and if she did such a good job on the course today he couldn't even imagine what she could do with the proper training. Why shouldn't she at least try? Besides she will be eighteen in two months

"Alright, I'll talk to your mother." He said. Sam's mouth dropped open and her eye brows shot up in surprise.

"Really?!" She shrieked, she wrapped her arms around her father's neck and laughed with glee.

"Aright then, let me get the file for you to sign and the information on what you'll need." He smiled widely at Sam. "Two members of the military will come to pick you up within the next two days so be prepared." He opened a drawer in his desk, pulled out a file folder, opened it and pulled out a piece of paper. He slid the paper toward Sam and pulled a pen from his pocket. "Please sign at the bottom. Now I'm afraid your father and mother cannot know the name of the unit you will be joining." Sam's Father was about to interrupt but Mr. Marks held up his hand to stop him. "Let me explain. If anyone other than, those who need to know about this, their lives will be in danger. They always are." He looked solemnly at Sam and she nodded, understanding. Her father pursed his lips and nodded as well.

"I understand." Sam said sternly, without a second thought.

Sam took the pen and pressed the ball point to the creamy white paper. She hesitated, thinking about what the right decision would be, if she would finally find the place she belonged or if she was making a big mistake and it will turn out like every other hobby her and her dad had tried. But she made up her mind and a second later signed her name. Gliding the pen smoothly across the paper and pushed the paper back to Mr. Marks.

He looked up and smiled at her. "Welcome to the special unit, I hope you make something of this." He said sincerely, he then stood up and shook both of their hands; he then began to walk them to the door.

As they were walking out Sam remembered a question she meant to ask.

"Excuse me, Sir?" She turned to face Marks again, he stopped mid step and looked at her in surprise.

"Yes young lady?" His eyebrows pulled up in curiosity.

"Whose record did I beat anyway?" Sam cocked her head curiously, her eye brow's pulling down, making elevens form between her eyebrows.

Aaron Marks smiled his wide smile, his eyes glinting with pride. "Mine." He said even prouder than his eyes.

Samantha smiled widely back meeting Mr. Marks eyes. "Ah, well I'm sorry I made you look bad." She said jokingly. She felt as though, in these few minute spent with him, she learned a lifetime about Aaron Marks.

"Good luck." He said in parting with a smile.

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**So what did you think about the first chapter? Pleale let me know what you think! Its slow but you've gotta work up to the story being told and give the characters depth!**

**~Bre**


	2. Ed and Thomas

**Chapter 2 is up! Yay! It is almost exactly 1000 words shorter that its predecessor but this chapter has heart! (at least I think it does!) Please Enjoy! **

**And thank you all for your wonderful Reviews! You all have warmed my heart! **

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One…Two…Three…The cars splashed by. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle and Sam had grown sleepy watching the cars fly by.

It had been six months since her meeting with Aaron Marks and her discovering she had an odd gift. Something she never expected. Of all the gifts a teenage girl could discover she had, she was good at killing. Sam would have been fine with knitting or something like that, but killing?

Sam had overheard her mother and father speaking of the events that had happened that day, her mother wasn't very happy with Sam's idea of leaving so soon.

"A gift like that is a heavy burden for a girl her age!" Her mother had pleaded to her father. And she was right Sam's mind did feel overwhelmed.

Her father only sighed and said "She's a young woman and she can decide what she wants to be in life! But I'd rather her be happy and doing something she loves and is good at than going to some university and getting into trouble." Sam's father was pressing his point and her mother was pressing hers but in the end Sam decided to stay until she finished high school.

She had planned to just go off and finish it in her free time at the military, but she decided against it. She wanted to finish her schooling with her friends and at least savor every second before she leaves. She called Aaron Marks back at the office that night and apologized to him that she wouldn't join until she graduated, and it was only half a semester so it wasn't going to take long. He understood and wished her luck with schooling as well. Marks had become like an uncle to her, one that she's only know for a short while. She had become much better acquainted with Mr. Marks and his character.

So she finished High school and got her diploma, which made her mother very happy. But now that she had graduated she could do what she wanted with her future. This meant she called Marks as soon as she got home the very night she graduated.

He told her the same thing that he had told her the first time. A car would come for her within two days and she would be taken to a military base to train for a few years and get more aquatinted with the military. So she wouldn't get thrown into the fight without any idea as to how anything worked.

So now she was nervous, it was the start of the second day of waiting. Still nobody had come for her. Maybe they had forgotten about her. She was waiting for the axe to fall and her stomach was in knots. She was waiting for them to call her back to tell her they didn't want her anymore, and she wasn't THAT special.

So there she waited just like the puddles in the street, waiting for the rapture to come and bring them back to the clouds in the sky from which they came. Until something caught her eye, a slick black car came pulling up to the front of her house. Why did military cars always come in black? Don't they have any other color? Sam sighed and got up from the couch. She ran back to her room to make sure she had everything she needed, and then whipped her way into the bathroom, hoping she hadn't forgotten anything.

She stopped in front of the bathroom mirror, and stared at herself. She observed her faults mostly. Her eyes were too close together, she didn't have any cute dimples when she smiled, and every girl she knew had beautiful bright blue eyes, but she was stuck with a dull green, which in fact were quite beautiful. But there were some wonderful things about Sam Holbrook; she had a smile that light up a room, even though her teeth weren't perfect. She had beautiful pin straight deep red-brown hair that flowed thick to the middle of her back; and she had beautiful smooth, full lips. But that was just her appearance.

The doorbell blared making Sam jump and snap out of her vain staring. She heard the door open and her father welcoming someone; she heard two strange voices as well.

"Is this the Holbrook home?" A strange voice said.

Samantha made her way down the hallway and saw two tall men in military suits standing in her living room. Her father and mother were there as well, they all turned their heads as Sam came into view.

"Samantha Holbrook?" A tall salt and pepper haired man asked.

"Yes?" Sam replied.

"We are here to retrieve you." The other man with light blonde hair said.

"Yes sir. I'll be ready in a second." She then turned to her family and embraced her father first, then her mother. Tears streamed down her mother's face and Sam was embarrassed. But she was grateful; her mother never shed a single tear that didn't deserve to be shed.

"Be safe." Her mother said in parting.

"I will." Sam replied

Sam said her goodbyes and picked up her bags. The blonde man went out first to start the car probably. She turned to the salt and pepper man and smiled, he didn't return her smile he only looked at her curiously and that made her weary.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked raising his eyebrows, he seemed awkward and impatient. Sam was shocked by this. She came to terms with the fact that not every person in the military she will come in contact with will be as wonderful as Mr. Marks.

"Goodbye Mom, Dad." She said one last time before she walked out the door. She couldn't believe that this was it, that her parents had let her go so easily, she couldn't believe that she has LEFT so easily! She had been preparing for this day for six months and every time she thought of leaving, she would cry. Sam was never a strong person and she couldn't make decisions easily. But the situation had come to prove to her that when the time came for a person to be strong, you could amaze even yourself.

Sam climbed into the back seat of the cliché black car, and took in a deep breath. The car smelt like leather, peppermint and cigarettes. She wrinkled her nose.

The blonde man in the driver's seat seemed to catch her reaction and cocked his head to one side.

"What's wrong?" He asked. The salt and pepper haired man took two cigarettes from the dash board and lit a match. He held both of them over the match lighting them. He handed one to the Blonde man driving, sticking the other into his mouth. The salt and pepper haired man turned and offered her one.

"You smoke?" He asked. Sam shook her head.

"No I don't. I actually can't stand the smell of them." She pointed out, now regretting that she said a thing.

"Oh, well I'm sorry." The blonde one said as he took one last puff and then flicked it out the window. The salt and pepper haired man turned and did the same.

"Well you better get used to it!" The blonde said.

The Salt and pepper haired man turned back to her and hung his arm over the back of the seat.

"I'm Thomas Kelley by the way." He said with a big white smile, he had a few gaps in his teeth too. Thomas looked odd, his face had no wrinkles but his hair was graying. It was a curious case in Sam's mind. He had deep dark chocolate eyes set deep into his face. He extending his hand for her to shake, she took it gladly

His actions now were totally different than when they were standing in the house. He looked awkward there, but now he was very care free and smiling.

"And I'm Ed Sutherlin!" The Blonde said from the driver's seat. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier!" He smiled as well. Ed Sutherlin looked a little older than Thomas did. He had some light wrinkles. Laugh lines around his mouth and wrinkles around his baby blue eyes, like had been squinting in the sun for hours.

"So I was told that you were a special case and we weren't aloud to ask you much about yourself." Thomas paused then rolled his eyes. "But since when have I ever listened? Tell us about yourself!" Thomas said grinning.

"Yeah!" Ed joined in. "How did a young kid like you get yourself into a car with us?" His eyebrows perked up.

"What do you mean 'Into a car with us'?" Thomas asked turning his head to Ed.

Sam pressed her lips into a tight line to keep from laughing. These two were an odd pair.

"Well… she had to do something right for the military to send for her!" Ed said looking in the rear view mirror to look at her. "They usually make them drag their own butts over to the base!" Ed said with a booming laugh.

"Yeah that's true! They made us drive!" Thomas said as if he was hurt. He rolled his eyes then turned back to Sam.

"Um… I got a good time on a shooting range course and ended up in the office of a man named Aaron Marks, he offered me a spot in a Spe-" Sam stopped herself just in time. She remembered Mr. Marks saying she couldn't tell anyone about the Special Unit and she didn't plan to.

"A what?" Ed asked, clearly confused.

"Watch out!" Thomas yelled. Ed had not been paying attention to the road and almost rammed right into a red car stopped at a stop light in front of them. Sam's body tensed and her heart sped up. Ed had hit the brakes in time but it was still close.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?!" Thomas yelled at Ed.

Ed let out a deep sigh of relief and closed his eyes. "Yes Mother!" He shot back sarcastically. "Sorry guys." He apologized.

Samantha eased up on her muscles and relaxed, she realized she had a death grip on the seat and let go slowly. Her joints reluctantly flexed out of the grip position.

In truth Sam was actually glad that they had almost got into a car accident; it had changed the subject and got her out of the hot seat. She was thankful for this near death experience and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

"I haven't even been with you guys for ten minutes and I've already almost died once!" Sam said lightening the mood. The men in the front seat laughed and relaxed as well.

Samantha's mother had always told her she had a wonderful knack of making friends. Something she had always coveted about her daughter. She always said "Oh what it would be like to be able to spend a mere ten minutes with a person, and feel as though you can speak with them about anything. To make friends so quickly is a wonderful thing. People learn to trust you better." Sometimes Sam didn't believe this was true, but now it was making sense to her.

"Well, we have a two hour car trip, maybe you'd like to get some rest? I don't think you'd like to spend the rest of the car trip listening to us." Ed laughed.

"No actually, I'm rather enjoying your company." Sam replied honestly, but then remembered that she had almost slipped and told them about the Special Unit. She didn't want to risk another slip up. "But, I am actually pretty tired." Sam said quickly, which was true, she spent all afternoon counting cars. "So I'll just nap here for a while." She faked a yawn.

"Alright then!" Thomas said with an enthusiastic smile.

Sam lay across the back seat awkwardly and closed her eyes, breathing in with her diaphragm and stomach, like the human body was supposed to, trying to relax.

The rest of the car trip Sam slept, she dreamt of warm sunny days, slipping in and out of consciousness. She heard bits and pieces of Thomas and Ed's conversations. Once they argued about fast food, then cigarette brands. Then she heard something about stopping for gas. The car did stop once, a door opened and a gust of cold air floated in making Sam shiver. She heard Ed say something about a blanket or two in the trunk, one to cover her with and another to place under her head. Then sooner or later both doors to the back seat opened and a colder gust of air blew in from both sides, a shiver ran down her spine. Something warm was placed over her while her head was lifted up and then placed on something soft as well, it smelt like peppermint. She breathed in deep and let the smell caress her mind and senses. She let out a soft relaxed sigh.

She slipped in and out of consciousness again.

"See? I told you it was a good idea." Was the last thing she heard as the car started again and she fell into a deeper more comfortable sleep.

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**Enjoyed? I hope so! **

**Authors Note: I had a LOT of fun writing about Ed and Thomas! Hence why the chapter is named after them! =) **

**P.S. I'm sorry if its starting off slow, BUT! I'd rather give my story demention then just throwing it all in the bucket hoping for the best! I want my characters to have heart and character themselves! **

**Lots of Love**

**~Bre**


	3. Stepping Up

**Hello there! Sorry it took me so long to upload! ^^; I just wanted to ensure perfection before I moved on! =) Please enjoy mah story! =) Reviews do not keep up the creativity, and lack there of do not hinder it! but they are very much enjoyed! I love to hear what you all have to say! So please tell me what you think! =) **

Love, Bre

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The warm sun shot through the window on to Sam's face, it was bleeding through her eyelids making her dark world turn bright orange. She opened her eyes then shut them again, the sun was very bright.

She heard snoring and sat up curious. Her hair fell messily in front of her eyes; she threw it back behind her and looked around. There were a lot of trees on both sides and a long narrow road stretched far in front of the car.

She then noticed that there was a folded blanket on the seat next to her and a blanket on her lap. _So I didn't dream the conversation I heard_. Sam thought shifting her eyes between the two men in the front seat.

She saw Thomas sleeping with his head bent back, and his mouth open, he was the source of the snoring.

"Well good afternoon sleeping beauty!" Ed called looking back at her in the rearview mirror. "You slept almost the entire way." He informed her.

The fact that he called her Sleeping Beauty flattered Sam, she had only heard her Mother and Father say something such as that. Hearing someone else say it made her head spin, but she didn't say anything about his comment.

"So…" Sam said looking for something to talk about. "Are we almost there?" She asked sounding like a little kid on a road trip.

"Almost, only a few more miles to go." He said with a smile, then bent down and grabbed a pile of papers, some fell and he sighed with frustration.

Sam looked at the clock on the dashboard it said it was two sixteen in the afternoon. She could have sworn they had left around eleven that morning, which meant they had been driving for more than three hours now. Where were they? Did we get lost?

"Um…" Sam began but stopped, she thought that maybe she shouldn't say anything; maybe she shouldn't let them know she picked up on the time mishap. She would have the upper hand if this developed into something bad. Or maybe she was jumping to conclusions and they had ended up taking a wrong turn. Why was she thinking like this? She was never a person to be superstitious! Let alone suspect two nice officers of being someone other than they said they were. She was ashamed. She hadn't worried about this kind of thing before; she wasn't the kind of girl to worry.

Just then Ed leaned over and smacked Thomas on the arm with a hand full of papers, a few scattered on Thomas' lap. Sam and Thomas shot up out of shock, both for different reasons. Sam was shocked out of her deep thought and Thomas was shocked out of a very good dream.

"Wake up! I need your help!" Ed said handing him the rest of the papers.

"What?" Thomas said drowsily. "Where are we?" He said wiping his eyes with the back of his hand while looking around franticly.

"Uh… Yeah about that…" Ed said, embarrassment clear on his face. "I kinda got off at the wrong off ramp… and I'm trying to find my way back." He hung his head in shame.

"Why didn't you wake me up? And keep your eyes on the road!" Thomas demanded.

"You look so cute when you sleep." Ed said with a smirk on his face, he looked over his shoulder to wink at Sam.

Sam felt silly now that she knew why they were running so far behind. She laughed aloud. Still wondering why she was so worried.

"What's so funny?" Thomas said mid yawn.

"It's nothing." Sam said with a laugh.

"Hey, stop bugging the girl! And would you mind helping me get back to the interstate?" Ed shot out.

"Yikes, what's wrong with you?" Thomas said looking down at the papers.

"I'm sorry… I'm just kinda snippy. I haven't had a cigarette in almost three hours…" Ed looked defeated, he had been hanging in there for a long time.

"Yeah, I hear ya… Why do you think I took a nap?" Thomas sighed.

Sam couldn't believe these two! They acted like an old married couple! Although, she felt bad that she was the reason they hadn't smoked.

"You can smoke if you like, it won't kill me. I'll crack a window or something." Sam said looking for the controls to roll down the window.

"Hallelujah!!" Ed shouted throwing both his arms in the air and quickly grabbed the cigarette box on the dash board. Before she knew it two cigarettes were lit and they were smoking. The smell filled the car, and she hung her head out of the window.

"Thank you, Mommy." Thomas said as he turned to face her, clamping his eyes shut tight and flashing a bright outrageous smile.

Sam's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Surely he's joking.

"Thomas! Are you calling her old?!" Ed shot back with a fake gasp.

Sam didn't know what to think now; she was shocked but not offended. She only laughed along.

Thomas and Ed made an odd pair; they had humor Samantha hadn't been exposed to before. They were like two children! Mid twenty six year old men on average but twelve year oldsat heart; Twelve year olds with licenses, military training and a bad tobacco addiction.

"I have to admit" Sam began. "I've never met anyone with your kind of humor." Sam said reflectively.

"I find that surprising." Thomas said turning back again to look at her.

"You kind of need it though." Ed joined in. "If there's one thing you need in the military, that's a good sense of humor. It's the only thing that's kept me sane for the past few years." Ed said, blowing out a puff of smoke. "You'd be surprise at how fast the military gets to you. Once you hit the front lines, you'd give anything to recall a good joke." He took out his cigarette and held it out the window tapping it; ashes fell off of the tip. "Or maybe that's just me." Ed said ending the conversation on his part.

"Well, enough about that!" Thomas shouted, flicking his cigarette out the window. Some ashes scattered off of the cigarette butt and into Sam's face. She shut her eyes quickly and spat the ones that got in her mouth out of the window.

When she opened her eyes she saw a very large complex off in the distance she squinted to see it better.

"Hey, guys?" Sam asked seizing Ed and Thomas' attention. "Is that where we need to be going?" She pointed toward the far off complex.

Ed and Thomas leaned towards to window.

"Huh… what's it doing all the way over there?" Ed asked.

Sam's mouth fell open and her eyebrows shot up. These two were driving her crazy.

"Alright, well how do we get over there?" Thomas asked.

"Look at the directions!" Ed shouted back. Sam rolled her eyes.

For the next thirty minutes Sam listened to them bicker about who should have driven and who's fault it was for getting lost. She was at her wits end until finally they approached the front gate of the military base. A guard was standing in a guard shack waiting for them to approach. He looked into the car and nodded as Ed held up a badge of some sort, Sam couldn't make it out.

"The official Military taxi service." Ed muttered under his breath. Thomas told him to shut up.

Finally they were at their destination. Three and a half hours of Ed and Thomas were wearing on Sam, they were wonderful company; but not to someone who had never experienced them before.

The car parked and the three of them got out. Thomas opened the trunk and pulled out her bags "Well Sam, this is it!" Ed said and then he led them to the main office.

They walked in and Sam looked around. It was small and very warm with desks, computers and filing cabinets

A nice looking man in military garb was sitting at a desk, he welcomed them.

"Hello sir! We're dropping off!" Thomas said with a salute.

"Very good." The man replied. "Name please." He said looking at Sam.

"Samantha Holbrook." Sam replied.

"She should have a file of recommendation." Thomas said.

"Ah yes, just got the file this morning." The man got up and walked over to a separate desk; picking up a manila folder opened it then walked back. "I see you were recommended by Aaron Marks. Good man!" He said then sat back into his chair.

"Alright, here's how it's going to work. You're going to be required to do nine weeks of boot camp here and then you will be sent to whichever branch you are planning to join."

"Wait, Boot camp? I didn't hear anything about branches. I though I was joining a Special Unit?" Sam blurted, Ed and Thomas looked at each other confused. The man behind the desk looked at her curiously.

"I'm sorry? There's no "special unit" here, I don't know of any special unit to even join." The man said cocking his head to the side. Sam closed her eyes and pressed her lips into a tight line the confusion was more than she could handle.

She was told that she was joining a special unit, not boot camp or any other camp. Although she did remember Mr. Marks telling her she would be required to have military experience but he didn't tell her which one to go with! All he told her was that she had potential and he recommended her to the special unit he was once apart of. She needed answers.

"Excuse me for one second." She turned then to Ed and Thomas. "Do either of you have a phone?" She asked pulling her eyebrows together.

"I do!" Thomas said reaching in his pocket. He pulled out a small flip phone and handed it to her. She thanked him and stormed out of the small office. Ed and Thomas looked at each other and shrugged.

Sam dug into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet, she opened it and pulled out a small piece of paper. She opened it and punched in the number that was on the paper. She was going to call Aaron Marks herself.

The phone rang for a few seconds, but after the third someone picked up.

"Hello, Aaron Marks office." A woman answered at the other end.

"Hi, I'd like to speak to Mr. Marks please, this is Samantha Holbrook." Sam said shifting her weight.

"One moment please." The woman said then the line went silent. Sam tapped her foot in impatience.

"Hello, this is Aaron Marks." a familiar voice said from the other end.

"Hi Marks its Sam." She looked down at her feet.

"Oh! Hello Sam! What can I do for you?"

"I want to know why you didn't say anything about boot camp, or anything that had to do with which branch I should join! I thought I was joining a special unit? The man at the front desk had no idea what I was talking about!" She was almost yelling into the phone.

She heard Marks sigh on the other end. "Ok, One: Breathe. Two: you are joining a special unit, in time. And Three: the man at the front desk isn't just going to tell you about the special unit, you get tossed for telling, and the odds are he was probably telling the truth and has no idea whatsoever." Marks informed.

"Well, what am I suppose to do then?" Sam ran her fingers through her long hair, pushing it back.

"You're supposed to make the right decision. You have to make the special unit want you, they're not going to ask you to join based on speculation. And they're not going to ask you to join just because I recommended you. You have to make your own choices." He said with a smile in his voice.

"But, how? How do I make them want me?" Sam pressed.

"Listen Sam how do you think you're going to get anything done in life if you keep asking for help?" He questioned.

"I… I guess I'm not." Sam admitted.

"Exactly, and you already have one toe in the door, they will be watching you. You're already so gifted, you just have to master that gift and take it to a whole new level. If you play your cards right, Sam, you'll be there soon. You're just going to have to figure out the rest on your own." He said.

Sam was silent for a few moments.

"I'm sorry Sam. I'm afraid I made it sound simple, didn't I?" Marks finally said, ending the silence.

"Yes you did. Although I'm more to blame, I should have done my homework better. I should have known, I'm smarter than this!" Sam shook her head in shame.

"No Sam, we can spend hours pointing fingers at who's to blame. But to take the next step and dealing with the issue is truly the only smart thing in these situations." He negotiated.

"I guess then that the next smartest thing is to choose which branch I'm going with isn't it?" Sam asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, I believe it is." Marks said.

"Would you help me with that one?" Sam asked pursing her lips.

"I thought I said you had to figure the rest out on your own?"

"One last time?" Sam looked back through the window of the main office Ed and Thomas were mouthing something to her. She couldn't make out what they were saying, she only shrugged at them.

"Ok fine! There's the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard." He sighed. "Pick one."

Sam had only heard of four of the five, Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. But needless to say the only thing she knew about them were their names.

"Which one did you enlist in?" Sam asked curiously.

"The Army." Marks replied.

"Army it is!" Sam said. She then thanked Marks one last time for his guidance and snapped the phone shut.

She walked briskly to the office door and flung it open.

"I have a plan now!" She exclaimed as she handed Thomas back his phone, he looked confused.

Ed pursed his lips "Great! Would you mind telling the nice man at the front desk?" He said sarcastically.

"I'm joining the army branch sir." Sam said firmly.

The man behind the desk nodded and wrote something on the papers in front of him. He then walked over to a computer and punched in information. He got up and walked around his desk.

"Welcome to the military. Miss Holbrook." The man said as he took Sam's hand in his and shook it.

"Thank you." Sam replied with a smile.

It was about time she made a decision for herself, even though she had a little bit of help from Aaron Marks; It was about time she stepped up to life and finally tried to find where she belonged. She had always wanted find some place for her soul to thrive but never had the guts to go out of her way to try anything. She always made excuses not to; until her father had something to say about it, that's when the father daughter excursions began. She was proud of herself for making such a choice and finally stepping up.

They walked out of the office and into the warm sun again. The wind was blowing harder than the last time she was outside. It was cold and sharp as it whipped her thick hair into her face sticking to her moist lips thick lips. She turned then to Ed and Thomas.

"Well Sam." Thomas said shifting his weight. "I guess this is it." He said staring intently at her.

"What's it?" She said shifting her eyes away to look at Ed, only to find he was staring intently at her also. She took a step back so she could see both of them. "What?" She demanded.

"It's just… Good byes are so hard!" Thomas said with a fake sniff and pressing his lips into a tight line.

"We're really gonna miss you Samantha Holbrook!" Ed chimed in.

Sam stared at them in disbelief. Why she was still shocked by their behavior she did not know.

"Hey, guys, I only rode in a car with you for three hours! Wait, I slept almost the entire way, one hour." She said reflectively.

"But it was in that time… that we realized-" Thomas began.

"That you snore louder than any girl we have ever heard!" Ed cut in.

Sam's mouth fell open in shock, and her face went red hot scarlet. She didn't know she snored, let alone so loud she was named the loudest snoring female these two have ever heard.

Thomas and Ed burst into laughter clutching their stomachs.

"If you… could only see your face right now!" Thomas howled with rolling laughter.

"Excuse me! Thomas was the one snoring like a freight train!" Sam retorted smugly, and she then laughed along with them.

"It was fun kid." Ed sighed after he finished laughing. He held out his hand for a parting handshake.

"Yes indeed it was." Thomas agreed, also shaking Sam's hand.

"Yeah, and to tell you the truth I don't want you guys to go." Sam admitted honestly.

"Yes granted we are great!" Ed began. "But don't forget what I told you! Make some friends. We are only a taste of some of the colorful characters you're going to meet on this new adventure."

"Sure thing!" Sam agreed.

"Yup, it's true! Now then off to go pick up another newbie!" Thomas shrugged.

"See you around Sam!" Ed said in parting as he walked away, Thomas close behind him.

"Dude, I snore?" Thomas asked Ed as they walked towards their car. Sam chuckled because she was thinking the exact same thing.

"Time for a new adventure." Sam said low as she picked up her bags and walked back into the office.

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**So? What did you guys think? Good ? yes,? no? Maybe so? I'll have an other Chapter up soon... hopefully... **

**Love Bre! **


	4. First Nine Weeks

**First off My deepest and greatest appologies to my readers. I am so sorry for making you all wait so very long. I was selfishly putting this off due to my writing was at a standstill and I even considered discontinuing this story. but I'm not going to give up! I'm going to reaquire my love for writing. I know that at least a few of you understand that feeling that I just described above. :P And second... well there is no second, ****So without further adue, and very much overdue... please enjoy this next... quickly and shortly written chapter. **

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Sam's first year of the military wasn't quite what she expected. She first had to get through nine weeks of torture, or in this case, they loved to call it boot camp. Every morning she was up before the sun was, doing pushups and running laps. She scarcely ate and she was home sick. Also to her surprise she was further out of shape then she realized. She was always running so far behind everyone else during laps, she would get ridiculed and harassed constantly by everyone, including herself, and especially the Drill Sgt. Her name was Sgt. O'Soul, She drove Sam out of her mind. She was very get-in-your-face about everything, and she had a field day with Sam.

Sam though she was this "Super Killer Woman" and here she was running so far behind everyone else, getting yelled at by the DS and above all she just couldn't manage to run like she did that day on the course. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't get her legs to work. Heck, she could barely move by the end of the first week. Let alone run.

She was required to run coursed just like the one she ran that day, along with other hideous courses, whether it is in mud, blazing heat, raining, pouring, you ran it. But could she run it like the _super gifted_ girl that she was? Nope. That would be WAY too easy. Here Sam though life was going to be easy, how stupid of her.

Although Sam's life was plunged into hell she did take Ed and Thomas' advice and made some friends, and also along with what they had said in parting, they were indeed colorful.

The first day of boot camp she made one new friend.

It was after she received her room assignments and she walked to her sleeping arrangements that were unfortunately, barracks. It was designed like one big room with over fifty bonks, and yes, a five stall, three shower bathroom! Joy! That's One hundred women, sweating like pigs every morning, then waiting in line for more then an hour each day just for a shower. Half of them didn't even bother showering, and Sam was one of them!

She walked into the room and searched through the bunks for her assigned number. She also noticed that every wall was lined with locker style cabinets, which also had numbers on them. She was searching for number 63A and found it, which was unfortunately in the middle of the room surrounded by chatty women and all the bunks. She also found her locker which was ironically placed at the back end of the room, where is the justice in that?

She threw her bags on her bed and flopped onto it, luckily she had the bottom. Ea

Sam looked around and saw that some of the other girls had posters and pictures of their friends and families up and their shelves were already full of articles they probably cherished. Sam then realized the only thing she brought were clothes, books, her MP3 player, a digital camera, toiletries and some other random necessities. She didn't bring anything of importance to her, and she started regretting it.

She got up, grabbed her bags and walked to the other end of the dorm to her cabinet. She opened it and saw it was empty except for a few spare hangers lonely hanging on the bar rocking back and forth. She opened her bag and pulled out her jacket and hung it on a spare hanger, she pulled out some of the clothes she packed and hung them up as well. Her shoes she placed at the bottom of the cabinet, her toiletries and other things on a small shelving space above the clothing rack.

When she reached the end of the clothing bag she went for her other bag that held her other random articles. She opened it and gasped at what she saw. On top of everything else was a picture frame, small and wooden, something her father must have made. It held a family photo. It must have been placed there by her mother's ever caring hands.

Sam sighed then swallowed back the lump that was forming in her throat.

She then felt an odd tugging on her hair, almost as if someone was running their fingers through it. She spun around quickly to find a girl around her height; she had a smaller build though, very petite. She was also very beautiful. She had short black hair that framed her face and hugged her sharp jawbone, her eyes were a striking bright blue and she had the longest lashes Sam had ever seen.

"You know…" She began then paused looking Sam over. Sam was waiting for criticism. "My hair used to be that long, so pretty and flowing… until the jerks here chopped it all off!" The young woman fumed.

"I'm sorry?" Sam asked shocked.

"Yeah, me too! I went to do my medical exam and the DS told me my hair was too long, I had to chop it off! Better yet, they'd do it for me! So off I went to this cold, dark, scary room and they hacked at my hair! They didn't even cut it straight!" The small girl said growing in volume. "And wouldn't you know it, I had to come back here and do it all over again myself! I should have just done that in the first place!" She stopped, pressed her hands to her temples and sighed. "Well… I suppose it's just hair and it'll grow back but…" She sighed again. "Not the welcome I would have hoped for! So would you like me to cut yours for you so you don't have to have Jack the Ripper hair stylist cut if for you?" She asked her eyes lighting up.

Sam pondered it for a moment, if it was as bad as she said, and this girl ended up not being able to cut hair either, then either way, she was going to end up with a bad hair cut. And Sam couldn't cut hair to save her life either! So what did she have to lose?

"Sure, I suppose, but I don't even know you." Sam stated, arching her eyebrows. She was rather taken back by this friendly young woman.

"Well that's the point, you make friends, and you can't make friends unless you take a little step and try to make some! Where are you going to go in life if you don't try?" She said with a bright smile.

Sam smiled at her ironic statement. "I'm Samantha Holbrook." She said extending a hand.

"Vanessa Prince." She said taking it. "I may be a Prince, but my daddy always said I'll always be his princess!" She smiled and winked.

Sam laughed and followed Vanessa over to her bunk which just so happened to be two bonks down.

"Let's get my scissors and we'll cruise over to the bathroom, it sucks by the way." She stated while digging through her bags. "Aha! Found ya!" She exclaimed with a giggle of joy. "Alright, let's do it!" She held the scissors properly and headed for the bathroom door.

They walked in and Sam saw that they weren't the only ones with the idea. It was filled with girls of all ages, and buzzing with laughter and chatter. The floor was covered with an array of hair, red, blonde, black, brunet and some in between. Sam wondered if anyone was going to clean it up.

This was also the moment she discovered there were only three showers. She also noticed that there was another door opposite the door they just came through. Sam walked past Vanessa who was pulling up a chair in front of the sinks and opened the other door. She gasped, only to find it was another room just like the one she had just come from. It was full of bunks, lockers and more girls.

Sam backed away from the door and shrugged it off; she walked back over to Vanessa.

"Ready?" She said opening and closing the scissors manically.

"Yeah, I think so." Sam said taking her seat.

"How short would you like it?" Vanessa asked.

"Not too short please." Sam begged, she hadn't cut her hair in years.

"Alright, I can think of a few hair cuts that would suit you." She said with a smile on her lips.

Sam clamped her eyes shut, she didn't want to watch. She heard snip after snip after snip and her thick hair fell heavily to the floor.

"So why are you here?" Vanessa asked Sam curiously.

"Um, I guess I just wanted to do something with my life." Sam lied, although it was half true, it was still a lie.

"Really? That's it? No story? You didn't get kicked out of school and sent to the military or anything?" Vanessa asked shocked. "You look so young."

"Nah, I actually just graduated. What about you?" Sam asked curiously. "You don't seem like the military type." She stated honestly.

"I could say the same for you." Vanessa said, still cutting. "I'm one of those, army brats. But my parents wanted me to do something else other than the military. See my family is a family of military history, every man in our family for the past five generations has served in the military; only, my parents had one girl, and not a boy." She laughed. "So… They said that a girl shouldn't be involved with the military. 'It's man's work!'" She mocked in a deep voice. Sam laughed in response.

"So here I am! Ready to prove my worth!" She exclaimed with joy.

"Oh, so are you one of those Women's Rights gals?" Sam asked without thinking, she internally bit her tongue. _Where did that come from?_ Sam yelled at herself internally. Sam would have never asked anyone that question.

Vanessa busted with uncontrollable laughter. "No, I'm a Vanessa Rights activist!" She stopped laughing for a few seconds then giggled lightly again, which grew little by little.

"Oops." She said with a low guilty giggle.

"What?" Sam shrieked then opened her eyes.

"Don't worry! It's no biggy! Just a wrong snip, easy to fix!" Vanessa tried to reassure her. She was standing in front of the mirror so Sam couldn't see what happened. She moved from side to side trying to see Vanessa's mistake but Vanessa moved every way Sam did unintentionally and was still blocking her view.

"Just relax, it's a quick fix." Vanessa assured again.

"Alright." Sam breathed and relaxed back in her chair. But in a matter of minutes it was over, and a flood of hair encircled Sam.

"Alright, all done! Crap, it looks better than mine!" Vanessa whined.

Sam laughed nervously then shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Her head felt much lighter then before.

"Would you like to see?" She asked.

"Yes." Sam replied.

"Then open your eyes." She said sarcastically.

Sam obeyed and laughed nervously again. She stood and looked in the mirror. Sam gasped and her eyes grew wide. Her long beautiful hair was gone! It was now just above her shoulders, but still thick. It was layered very well, making it look thicker than it was. It was a pretty darn good job! Sam hadn't had a haircut on a long time but this was the best she'd ever had!

"Wow!" Sam exclaimed. "This looks really good! I love it! You're hired!" She beamed at Vanessa.

"Thank you." Vanessa said with a bright smile. "So you never did tell me your story." She also pointed out while she cleaned up the mess she had made.

Sam found a cleaning closet and found a broom and dustpan inside. Sam helped clean up while she explained, without going into too much detail and without mentioning the Special Unit, how she ended up here. Vanessa made a few comments, mostly sarcastic, every once and a wile. In the end, they ended up sweeping the entire bathroom.

Sam and Vanessa spent the rest of the day together. They talked about family, where they grew up and any other subject that came to their minds until the dinner bell rang and all the girls scurried out of the crammed dorm.

Vanessa and Sam sat together in the dinning hall; they never stopped talking, which was an odd thing for Sam. Sam never enjoyed frivolous talking with someone she has only known for a few hours, whether it is about something serious or truly silly, it was mostly the same for Sam, needless to say, she didn't have many friends, because in all honestly she wasn't comfortable making them. It was another one of those "you've got to work for it" situations that Sam could never succeed at, or try to succeed at. Sam was often pegged as the snobby or shy girl who wouldn't talk to anybody because she thought she was better than others, which in fact was not so. But meeting Vanessa was a truly amazing thing; Ed and Thomas also. In this past day Sam has made more friends than she has all year.

Sam became very popular with most the girls; she made many more friends by weeks end. But unfortunately not all of them were going the same place she was. Many were going to join the Navy or the Air Force, only a few were joining the Army. Vanessa was joining the Army also to Sam's surprise, although she didn't know where she was going to be stationed.

The last day of boot camp was a sad day for Sam. She and Vanessa stayed up the entire night looking at pictures taken from the nine weeks, talking and laughing way past midnight; which was curfew. They weren't the only ones though; everyone was awake and chatting. Sam even saw a game of tag going on. Which Sam thought would be a blast considering the layout of the dorm.

It turned out that Basic Training was not as difficult as Sam had expected either; once she got it figured out she could at least keep up with everyone while doing laps around the third week. But she could never again do what she did on the course a few months ago. Although she noticed she was stronger, her endurance was greater and she had a greater respect for her fellow brothers and sisters in uniform. She didn't realize that to most people this wasn't just a default future choice. This was _the_ choice. They had worked their entire life to this point; the point of wanting to serve their country and fellow people. It was very inspiring to Sam, she felt like she was apart of something much bigger then she realized.

In the morning, everyone loaded onto big busses with their things loaded into compartments under the buss. She and Vanessa said goodbye; neither knew where the other was going. Vanessa cried and Sam's throat was thick and cruelly suffocating her as they gave each other a parting hug.

Sam climbed into the buss and Vanessa climbed into the buss directly in front of Sam's. Sam waved at her in parting and sat in the middle row's of the buss sighing as she headed off yet again to another unknown place. She looked out the window and the last few women climbed into the buss. No one sat next to her which made her sad yet again. She was falling back into her sad state, which was unfortunate. Sam hadn't even been away from her newly found friends for five minutes and she was already slipping back into her emotionally insecure ways. She slapped herself gently trying to snap herself out of it.

The Buss slowly started crawling forward and Sam was moving yet again into the unknown.

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**This Chapter felt a bit more female most definately. the whole hair thing and all lol but I thought it would give these two girls something to talk about and get to know eachother over. Kuz lets face it, sitting over coffee is fun an all, but its just not military status :P **

**ANYWHO! Thank you all for reading and for waiting so patiently! **

**Lots of Love **

**~Bre**


	5. Stake Out

The rain dripped from the nose of Sam's gun as she crouched in the cold rain amongst the mud and gravel. Her cloths clung to her skin and water dripped from her hair and eyelashes. Her eyes were set on her objective, and her gun was trained on the door she was directed to guard. Adrenalin was racing through her veins; she was frosty and ready to take down the first poor soul who posed a threat. Her focus was undivided.

"Holl. What's your 20? Over." Her radio blared over the sound of the pouring rain, she had forgotten to put her headset in.

"Crap" she whispered and quickly plugged in her headset and clicked the call button. "Holl, checking in. No movement from the south door, everything's clear so far. Over" She surveyed the area again, looking for any signs of movement, or the smallest detail of a problem.

The mission was simple, survey the building where four soldiers were being held hostage. They weren't to engage, only to watch. You'd think it would be a very simple mission, but it wasn't. It was very difficult to wait when four of your brothers in arms were inside, away from family and friends who were scared to death waiting by the phones and televisions. They were inside, waiting to be rescued and there was Sam's squad, a mere 20 feet away from one door waiting to be knocked down; it seemed to Sam as though the soldiers outside were the helpless ones.

Sam wanted to barrel in there guns blazing, shooting every singer person in sight. No one would know it was them, accidents and conflicts arise. But so does war. One wrong move and you've got a national incident and World War 3.

"Dreaming of sunnier days?" Her partner asked, snapping her out of her enraged daze.

"What?" Sam asked blinking for the first time, never taking her eyes off of the door.

"Are you dreaming of sunnier days?" He repeated.

"I heard you the first time Dean, I was asking what you meant." She bit back, she never liked being distracted; although she didn't intend for the words to come out so harshly.

"Oh, sorry." He shot back sarcastically. "Don't tell me you never get tired of this. Crouching in the rain and mud, with dirt caked in places you shouldn't have it and cramps up the yin yang!" He wailed.

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "There's plenty of time to take a nice vacation after you do your job and get back alive."

"You're too serious. It's people like you that make this job no fun." He trained his gun back onto the door.

Lucas Dean was a very odd partner, one whom she would never choose for herself, which was why she was stuck with him. His patience befuddled her, and his ability to look at any situation with light and a smile on his face was something she envied. Sam used to be a lot like him, but seeing the ugly side of the world was wearing on her soul like a ton of bricks. She never knew that the military could do such things to your mind, but here she was now. Her responses were cold at times and she didn't have anyone around who gave her joy like she used to. She found herself clinging to the two people whom she enjoyed the most, which oddly enough weren't her parents, but the dear Ed and Thomas she met 5 years ago. Whenever she wanted a laugh they were who she thought of, whenever she smelt cigarette smoke her mind went to that short car ride from which she met two wonderful people. Dean reminded her of them in some ways, which kind of made her want to get to know him better. So in all honesty, it wasn't anyone else's problem but hers. She'd changed, she had the problem. When she became so single minded, she'll never know.

"Will you focus?" She asked in an equally harsh tone. There was plenty of time for a vacation later.

"Wolfe to Holbrook, movement through north door, headed your way from the west side, stay focused guys."

Sam snapped back to her reality. Her eyes darted to the western corner, waiting for a figure to approach. The building was a good 70 square feet and she didn't see anyone coming around the corner yet.

A good few minutes passed and Sam began to wonder what was up, she still didn't see anybody, her eyes continued to scan the area, she went back and forth, not seeing anybody. Her hand went to her radio.

"You guys sure? I see nothing. Anyone got eyes on our moving target? Did the target go east?" Sam asked.

"That's a negative, the east wall is clear." The other group called through the radio.

"Trapp, what's going on over there?" Wolfe called through the radio.

Silence.

"Trapp." He repeated.

Still there was no response, only the hiss of light static from the handheld radio.

"Anybody got eyes on Trapp?" Wolfe barked through the radio sternly.

"Negative." The east end called

"Negative." Sam said after she checked her view. "Dean, You see anything?" Sam called to her partner.

"No nothing." He said hollowly. He rose from his crouch and began to move towards the western wall.

"Dean!" Sam whispered loudly. "Where do you think you're going?!" She pivoted on her heals facing him.

"I'm going to go check it out." He said as he moved on.

"DEAN!" Sam hissed louder.

"What's going on over there?!" Wolfe called through the radio. "Everybody stay put! Don't move from your position! It's probably just a faulty radio. Nobody move." He commanded.

Dean kept moving forward. Sam sprung and caught his arm.

"He said to stay put." She commanded in a harsh tone.

"And I don't care. I'm curious and they may need help Sam." Hes said uncaring.

"And I don't care that you don't care! These are our orders! We are to stick to them!" She said sternly, boring her eyes deep into his.

"Sam. There are already four of us inside of that building. I don't want two more."

"And what if you make it three?!" Sam quickly shot back, but he didn't listen. Sam watched as he turned on his heals and stealthily jogged through the bushes to the west side of the building until finally, he was out of sight.

"Holl! Report!" Wolfe was calling again, concern deep set into is voice.

"Dean left west." Sam calmly stated. "Would you like me to pursue him?" Sam asked.

"No, stay put." He demanded. Sam looked back at the door and then back at to where Dean had disappeared into the thick bushes leading to the western wall.

"Yes sir." She said firmly.

Sam sat there for three minutes when she caught herself tapping her finger on the trigger of the gun.

"_Stupid!" _She thought. _"Are you trying to get yourself caught?! Or worse killed?" _

She immediately regained her focus and tried to calm her antsy, raging nerves. Dean had been gone far too long. Soon she noticed it was her foot that was tapping impatiently. And at that she'd had about all she could stand of waiting.

Sam wasn't in particular an impatient young woman, she could be on stakeouts for hours even days without tapping a single finger; but there was something about this mission that made her hair stand on end, even in the wet rain. The adrenalin was pumping into her veins at insane rates and the thought that something might have happened to any of her fellow squad members made a sick feeling arise in her stomach. She looked around to check her surroundings, and she saw nothing approaching. No signs of anything lurking. So she put her hand on the radio and dialed in.

"Sir. I would like to peruse Dean." She said sternly.

"No." was all she got back from the other end.

"Two minutes." Was all Sam said.

"That's two minutes too long." Wolfe replied again. "If something happens at your door and you miss it-"

"Sir" Sam interrupted. "We're on an observational mission, only to watch and not engage. I don't see why-"

"Don't Start Holbrook! I gave you your orders."

"One minute." Sam negotiated.

The other end was silent.

"And you know I'm fast. Get in, get out, get done." Sam repeated the squadron motto to him.

It was a personal favorite of hers. She didn't know why, although she enjoyed the simplicity of it, and the good subtle reminder it had, do your job correct and quickly, and you might stay alive. Sounded like pretty good wisdom to her.

"No."

Sam sighed and looked at the door again and then back at the place where Dean had been. She could just leave. Nobody would know, she could be there and back in a minute and nobody would or could even tell the difference. Nobody would know, but that was also the biggest hazard there was. If something went wrong, nobody would know and the south wall would be unwatched. Then somebody else would walk over and investigate and they'd start this cycle all over again until they had every single on of us.

She hesitated.

But against her better judgment and orders, she rose from her crouch in the mud and began moving at a crouch very quickly through the thick bushes towards the western wall.

She really had no idea what she would find, or what she was looking for. Only that the western wall could be a trap and she would walk right into it and be in big trouble. She stopped when she reached the south-west corner and surveyed the western side if the building. Trying to peer through the brush and bushes was difficult, the western side of the building had heavy covering; which was good, and bad.

She slowly began walking towards the western side of the building crouching even lower and looking in all directions, her weapon was still drawn and her finger near the trigger ready to fire. Her breathing was steady yet fierce, and her pulse was thudding rapidly behind her ears. No matter how many missions Sam had been on, there was no getting used to the fact that it could be your last with one wrong step.

Had she made that wrong step?

As she walked further to the station in which the eastern team should have been watching from she noticed foot prints in the mud heading back the way she'd come, she followed them to a very small clearing, where the rest of her team was sure to have been. She crouched even further toward the ground and stopped. She looked in every direction but saw no signs of anyone. Not even Dean. The tracks had faded now and she faced the eastern wall, walking slowly toward the edge of the bushes she was hidden behind.

As she neared the edge, she heard a low muffled groan, and she froze. Sam looked in every direction for the source of the noise. But couldn't hear or see anything due to the dense greenery that surrounded her. She decided to keep moving forward.

She quickly peered through the bushes and her eyes instantly locked on the motionless man. There was a warm red color pooling around it, mixing with the mud between the eastern wall and the bushes that covered her. Sam let out a shallow gasp.

That was enough for her. She was tired of sitting there, and her bleeding partner was more than enough incentive to disobey orders. Still, disobedience was not a part of Sam's idea of a job well done.

She looked from place to place, anticipating the attacker to arise from their hidden cave, to rear their ugly head so Sam can have a nice place to shoot. But what interested her most was that, there were no alarms, no men running around as if someone had just been shot. In fact, things were even quieter than before. There was almost an air of abandonment about the scene. It gave Sam the chills. She thought about how it could be a trap, that the enemy had discovered they were there and was waiting; wondering if there was any other life out there dumb enough to risk saving a fallen comrade.

She continued to look and wait… her calves screaming at her to just move, she had been crouching there in the mud longer than she had thought. The thought of being that dumb person risking their life for their comrade made Sam shake her head in disapproval.

"Yup… I'm dumb enough." She whispered to herself.

Without another thought she sprung from her crouch and made a mad dash toward the lifeless body.

She slid in the mud as she approached the body. Her shoes dug deep into the mud and her slip made the mud mix with the blood; she was soon on her knees, deep in it. She dove over his head, shielding him from any coming danger and covered her head as well with her arms forming a human bubble around her partner. Sadly, even though she was shielding him from the unseen enemy, she knew that it was useless. Her however, she was in more danger than ever.

Sam waiting for the sharp sting of a bullet piercing flesh, she'd been shot before and she'll never forget that feeling, it was exceedingly annoying. She was shot in the shoulder a year ago, nearly thought she'd lose the use of her arm, the bullet fractured and tore up the mussels in her arm, when it healed the scar tissue was so tough, it was nearly impossible for her to move. After a good month of heavy physical therapy and stubborn will she got mobility back, now she learns to work around it from time to time.

She didn't hear anything except the pouring rain and wasn't bleeding herself so she finally eased up and moved. She leaned over her partner's motionless frame, the rain splashing droplets and running all over his face; his lips were blue and his eyes were wide open and lifeless. Merely empty.

"Lucas" Sam whispered in a low pleading voice. "Lucas?" She asked again. But there was no answer, she knew it was useless. She looked over his body trying to locate where he was injured. Her eyes soon fixed on the gaping hole in his chest, by the looks of it, the bullet went clear through. Sam eyes immediately darted from the roof of the tall building in front of her, to her left and her right; she checked the bushes, everywhere. There was no sign of anyone. And even worse… there was no sign of life left in her partner. No shallow breaths. No pulse. No more silly smiles from the young Lucas Dean.

Sam's heart sunk. This wasn't supposed to be like this.

She knew she didn't have time for sentiments, or for weeping. That was to be saved for another time… another life. Sam hadn't cried in a long time. The Military does things to one's mind and in Sam's case, it calloused her. Her mind felt like it was frozen in time. But behind all of the frozen walls, she knew what she had to do.

She strongly gripped both of Dean's arms and began to drag him off into the bushes a good 3 yards away. She was thankful for the mud this time; it gave her a good sloshy surface to drag him across. Until she slipped in the mud again, her heals dug into the mud at the wrong angle and she slipped onto her back. The back of her head tingled, and the rain drops above her head seemed to bend in odd directions. The wind wasn't knocked out of her, but she had hit her head harder then she expected.

Sam steadied herself and began dragging the dead young man again. A trail of red flowed down the tiny streams of parted mud, and tiny patches of grass. The lines left in the mug from Dean's unconscious body provided good sized homes for the rain water and blood to mix and pool.

She finally got him to the bushes and found him a good solid tree trunk to prop his body up against. Sam wiped the mud and water from around her face and looked back at the scene she had left behind her. There was blood everywhere, and a very obvious trail left behind her. She crouched in the bushes again and checked her surroundings. Nothing moved so she ran out again and began covering up the bloody trail she left behind her. Mixing the blood further into the mud starting at the entrance to the bushes she had just left. She packed more solid mud on top of the lighter places and filled in the wells of blood that the body had made.

She didn't know why she was doing this, but covering up her presence was something she was good at. Although obviously someone knew she was there, at least they knew Dean was there, he wouldn't have been shot otherwise. As for the other two who had gone missing, what had happened to them?

Sam's mind was going crazy trying to piece the puzzle together. Whatever it was something was not right with the situation and the sooner she cleaned up and got back to the others the better. She had no idea what was going on, and what she was doing was beyond the definition of stupid, she was going to get her butt chewed out for this one she knew that as a fact.

She finished her work quickly and was adding the final touches to her cover up work when she heard a snap. Her head spun faster than imaginable to the surrounding greenery, gun drawn and eyes locked, waiting like a hawk for any sudden movements.

Just then, a voice blared loudly in her earpiece, she had forgotten about that, and it startled her out of her locked vision.  
"Holl! You better report right now!" Wolfe's voice came screaming though the earpiece.

She was too alert to speak, too afraid to respond and take her eyes off of the situation and end up with a bullet in between her eyes. She regained her focus and slowly walked into the bushes, never once taking her guard down, not relaxing once she was in the shelter of green bushes. She returned to the body of her partner, it seemed as a symbol, no, a threat, saying "If you're not careful, you'll end up like this."

"HOLL!" the voice repeated from the earpiece.

"Sir!" Sam responded sternly, and louder than she had wanted. She was getting fed up with Wolfe's annoying commands.

"Where did you go? It was like you were in a dead zone. Nobody knew where you were for a good 4 minutes. It's been hell." He said this very rushed. Sam wondered what had happened on their end.

"Dean is dead." Was all Sam could choke out.

There was a silence. It remained silent for a good 10 seconds. They seemed like an eternity.

"Are you sure?" Wolfe asked.

At this question Sam wanted to explode. Was she sure?! She only had to drag his body through the mud, looking into his cold lifeless eyes and she'd only cleaned up his blood in the pouring rain. Was she sure? She was surer about this than about anything she'd been sure of in her entire life. This in Sam's eyes was the saddest thing she'd ever admitted to.

"Yes sir." Was all she said, this was through her teeth.

"Get back on the line!" Wolfe screamed through the earpiece.

"Sir, I recommend heading back. There is no life, there's nothing going on here. It's almost like we were sent to watch the rain fall." Another soldier said, the voice sounded like a young man named Shaun, he was with the team watching the east wall.

Sam agreed with him. It was almost like they were sent to do nothing other than get out of someone's way.


End file.
